Registrar of Births and Deaths¶
The registrar is the local council official who records deaths, marriages, and births in the official register and issues the certified copies most institutions accept as evidence. In England and Wales, registration is done in person at a Register Office for the district where the death occurred, not where the person lived. Scotland and Northern Ireland differ: a death can be registered at any registration office in Scotland or any district registration office in Northern Ireland, and both offer registration by phone (Scotland also by online call). [source: gov-uk/after-a-death-register-the-death-2026-04-29.html] [source: nrscotland/registering-a-death-2026-11-01.html] [source: nidirect/registering-death-2026-11-01.html]
The Register Office for any English or Welsh district is listed on gov.uk's find-a-register-office directory. Most run a booking system; appointments typically take around 30 minutes. Walk-in registrations are unusual; phone first. [source: gov-uk/find-a-register-office-2026-04-30.html]
The registrar's job at a death registration is administrative: they take the medical information from the doctor (or, in the current process, the medical examiner) and the personal details from the informant, enter them into the official register, and issue the Certificate for Burial or Cremation and the certified copies that become the death certificates used afterwards. [source: gov-uk/after-a-death-register-the-death-2026-04-29.html]
Last verified: 2 November 2026 against gov.uk/register-a-death.
AfterLoss¶
Our how to register a death guide explains what to take to the registrar, what the appointment produces, and the five-day deadline. An AfterLoss case opens with the registrar appointment as one of the first tasks and stores the certificates, Tell Us Once reference and Form 9 together, ready for everything that follows.